At the south shores of Gökova you will find a derivate of the platane tree, the "oriental sweetgum" or in a mixture of Latin and Arabic: "liquidambar orientalis". Its fragrance is used to prepare perfumes and in old days of Bodrum every household used to keep a jar with the whitish resin as it has antiseptic qualities.

The oriental sweetgum tree is only found in this area. With a few on the northern tip of Rhodes it is limited to Turkey.

(Please click on images below to see them in full.)
	Distribution map from: Efe A. Studies on the Morphological and Palynological Characteristics of Liquidambar orientalis Mill. in Turkey. I. Ü. Orman Fak. Dergisi Seri A. Cilt 37 (2): 273 - 286, Istanbul, Turkey.
Soap with the fragrance of the sweetgum tree

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